The home defeat by Aston Villa left them still looking over their shoulders in the Premiership table, but Downing believes Boro are capable of pulling something out of the bag in their trips to Liverpool and Manchester United.

He said: "We have to give the fans something to shout about but we didn't do it on Saturday.

"Everybody probably feels we will go to Anfield and Old Trafford and get beat but we have a good record at both grounds.

"We do have this habit of being able to play well against the best teams and not so well against the so-called lower teams.

"I think we will go there with confidence and try to give them hard games."

Boro's embarrassing surrender against Villa emptied the Riverside long before the end.

But Downing has denied the players have given up the battle with the end of the season five games away.

He said: "Gareth Southgate warned us about this season collapsing. You would think looking at results that we just want the season to end.

"But we didn't feel that way against Villa because we haven't got 40 points yet. There is no chance of us throwing in the towel."

Boro are now playing for little but pride, with Southgate's demands for a late push having gone unheeded.

Downing said: "Europe has gone. Now the top half is looking tough.

"At least we still have every chance of finishing above last season's 14th, so that would be progress.

"But we keep saying that we have to do this and do that and talk is cheap. We have to go out and do it. With the players we have we should be nowhere near where we are in the league.

"It was always going to be a hard transitional season and I can understand the fans being frustrated.

"Sometimes things work like clockwork and sometimes they take time.

"Next season will be a big one for us.

"We know what the manager wants and we players have to do that.

"We saw another side of Gareth Southgate after the defeat at West Ham. He was very angry and didn't have to say anything to us after the Villa game.

"The lads were disappointed in themselves and we had a few words with each other and agreed it wasn't good enough."